Carragher also identified United’s midfield lack of energy and could not understand why Fred was not closing Xhaka down when he let loose on De Gea’s goal.

‘Fred is actually moving away from the ball,’ Carragher said on Sky Sports.

The result ended Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s 12-game unbeaten start in the league, and the United manager admitted his side didn’t take their chances.

Arsenal leapfrogged United into fourth (Picture: Getty)

He said: ‘When you see the boys work as hard as they do, the attitude they show in training, today we were lethargic in the first 10-15 minutes, did not have the zip and we did not take the chances. Hopefully we will be ready for Wolves in the FA Cup next week.

‘It has been fantastic so far but today is the the lowest we have been because we lost and missed the chance to put pressure on Spurs.

‘We have won games we have not deserved to win and today we lost a game we did not deserve to lose.’